The State of the American woman. – Time Magazine
http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1930277_1930145_1930309-1,00.html
Nancy Gibbs recent article What Woman Want Now found in Time magazine shows the actual change that the feminist movements have made over the years, but also highlights the areas that woman still are disadvantaged in. When reading, one feels almost proud of what has been accomplished, but at the same time realizes that there are things instilled in our economy that are hard to change. The article shows that the woman is the backbone of financial planning in the household, and soon to overtake men in the majority of workers in America. With so much recent change, it is hard to determine if this changing of roles is simply because of the economic collapse, or an actual change that will be permanent in society and in the workplace. One of the questions this article presents though is, is the recent opinion of this growing equality not united among women?
Gibbs article brought up many solid points in her article, like how women are beginning to rise up and dominate, taking advantages and becoming prominent members of society. She mentions how 40 years ago, the numbers of girls playing sports in school were small and the number of women graduating from law school were miniscule compared to what they are today. In fact, currently over half of the Ivy league presidents are women. With so much growth and progress in recent years, Gibbs hints that we have taken for granted the changes over the last forty years. She also goes further to say “Gone is the notion that a woman’s rise comes from a man’s expense.” One has to argue, although recent change has seemingly economically placed women on top, is it simply because of the collapse of work for men out there?
Gibbs article is basically stating that in recent times, the fact is that men have lost their tight grip on the economy. Jobs that rely on brute strength and are predominately male associated are less needed. Growth in labor areas generally associated with women (ex. Nursing) are on the rise. Even with these changes, it is evident that in some places stereotypes still take place ( 98% of kindergarten teachers are female, only 10% of engineers are female), and overall a woman still only earns 77 cents to every male dollar. She also points out that during the recent recession, women are more vulnerable and conscious of money. Therefore, she has even more faith that women will come out of the recession with better pay, and more equality. She enlightens us by showing that although a man may still be a breadwinner in a family, the woman’s wary eye on finances and her contributes are just as important. I think Gibbs main message is, that the recent economy has showed the importance of the female, but it has also showed the importance of teamwork within a family/marriage.
I found Gibbs article very interesting, but couldn’t help but see the single point of view she was presenting. She is strictly talking about middle-class, perfectly normal families. The word “Privileged” comes to mind when reading. She indicates that the man is willing to be in the teammate role, or that a man is even in the picture. This of course is not the case for many families. Gibbs fails to mention anything about the vastly different families that the United States of America has, and the different women and their roles in these families. Gibbs states this revolution of the importance of the woman in the economy like it is a recent thing, when in fact for many women, a large number of different racial descent have been doing this tiring battle of working/ being financially in charge/ raising children for years and years. This goes back to the readings of Lorde, Mcintosh, Miles, and Truth. Gibbs ignorance of the diversity of families, women and feminisms goals is exactly what these authors were talking about. They were talking about the privileged perspective that white, middle to upper class have. Gibbs major flaw is that she cannot grasp the fact that Feminism has many faces, not just the white picket fence kind. Using the scope we have recently discovered using other articles such as On the Rag and White Privilege and Male Privilege we can see that although Gibbs article is concerned with feminism, it similarly is doing what Miles states in On The Rag, “ We were not aware of the need for individual self-analysis or for recognition of our own role in oppressing or silencing others” (p.177) Gibbs does not realize that by stating this as a major movement in feminism, so is strictly talking to a certain group of feminist women in America.
I also found Gibbs article to be what Frye might object to in her article Oppression because she might state that the recent economic change has forced women to be “forced” or “pressed” into general stereotypes. The fact that career paths that have been generally predominately female are now vital to the economy could be compared to one of her wires in the birdcage analogy. These jobs fit the nurturing, womanly stereotype. Jobs like receptionists and dental assistants were often considered demeaning and insignificant. When we focus on the fact that the importance of these jobs has increased, we forget that this is just a temporary fix. Frye’s analogy, “It is now possible to grasp one of the reasons why oppression can be hard to see and recognize: one can study the elements of an oppressive structure with great care and some good will without seeing the structure as a whole, and hence without seeing or being able to understand that one is looking at a cage and that there are people there who are caged, whose motion and mobility are restricted, whose lives are shaped and reduced.” We have no idea what these jobs will mean after the economic downturn.
In Gibbs article, there is many ways to dissect and compare her opinions against those of the authors we have read. The fact is that we are facing a situation that is new ground for many women of America. Although Gibbs neglects the views of every woman in her article, we cannot scrutinize her for having high hopes about the recent economic turn and the woman’s role in it.
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